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From: frank600 AT comcast DOT net
Date: Wed, 10 Mar 2021 10:27:53 -0700
Subject: RE: (erielack) The DL&W and the Erie - a question on my mind
"Historical-anthracite-coal-extraction-from-eastern-Pennsylvania-1870-2015-data-from-PA.jpg" - image/jpeg, 850x510 (256c)

"It's the economy stupid"
--- James Carville 1992

I'm sure anyway you measure the DL&W's business performance/prospects it
will strongly correlate to the attached graph
"Historical-anthracite-coal-extraction-from-eastern-Pennsylvania-1870-2015"

Frank

-----Original Message-----
From: Paul Tupaczewski
Sent: Wednesday, March 10, 2021 7:53 AM
To: erielack@lists.railfan.net
Subject: (erielack) The DL&W and the Erie - a question on my mind


OK, this might raise some eyebrows here, but I've never heard of good
answers here that aren't based on emotion... the DL&W was truly beloved,
but:

* As powerful as the DL&W was during its heyday, it had lost its major
business (anthracite coal) by the 1950s. It tried to innovate with
piggyback, and that started working out well, but the anchor around its neck
of commuter service in New Jersey (not to mention NJ taxes) really started
to bring the road to its knees.

* The fact that the NKP shunned a proposed merger (which really would have
been the best option, giving DL&W access to Chicago and making its piggyback
service even more valuable) due to that albatross of commuter service is
what really doomed the railroad. (IMHO)

* Consolidating terminals and lines west of Binghamton with arch rival Erie
in the late 1950s ultimately didn't do enough to save either road.

So... that all being said, I know the DL&W fans scream how the DL&W
shouldn't have merged with the Erie. So I ask:

* If not the Erie, what other roads could they have merged with? The D&H was
supposed to be part of the proposed 3-way merger but backed out)

* There's always complaining about how the early EL was primarily driven by
Erie-favoring management (something that, in retrospect, does appear to have
much truth), but if the DL&W was the "better road" - let's face it, the Erie
was always in bankruptcy - how did the Erie side get the upper hand?

I'll just be blunt about it - if the DL&W was always considered the "better
road", what got it to the point where it became subserviant to the Erie?

(putting on my flak jacket now :)

- Paul


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